Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Items recovered from Ertuğrul frigate to be displayed in Bodrum

Four items have been recovered from the frigate Ertuğrul, which sank during a violent storm in the off the coast of Kushimoto, Japan, in 1890, and were brought to the Bodrum Marine Archaeological Museum for conservation and restoration.

Tufan Turanlı, the director of the museum, maintained that work under a project titled “Ertuğrul Frigate: A Turkish Vessel in Japan,” launched to salvage the frigate in 2007, is in progress. “During last year’s work, the location of the sunken vessel was determined. Some items will be recovered during salvage operations scheduled for Jan. 9 to Feb. 16. These items will be displayed after conservation and restoration work is completed,” he said.

The project also aims to commemorate the Turkish mariners who died in the accident and foster relations between Turkish and Japanese societies by using the Ottoman ship as a bridge. “This project will serve to maintain Ertuğrul’s memory and strengthen the Turkish-Japanese friendship. It will further shed light on Ottoman sailing. Studies will be conducted and books and documentaries will be prepared in line with these targets.

“The frigate is located off the shore of Japan’s coastal town of Kushimoto, located in Wakayama Prefecture. In 2007 we located the vessel and in 2008, we will proceed to recover items from it. Then we will conduct conservation and restoration work on them, which is expected to be completed by 2010. Following this, these items will be put on display in a Turkish museum in Japan and several museums in Turkey,” Turanlı said.